" wrote:

EV in :

Their children and grandchildren have been controlling the aphids, not
just on the fruit trees and the roses, but in most of the garden as
well.

yes, keep them hungry and they'll eat anything.
but keep them away from those cherries when close to rpiening, or they'll
leave you none.

:-)

Lady beetles are carnivorous. They prefer soft bodied insects such as
aphids, but will also eat other bugs, including their own kind. I've
documented them in the larval stage cannibalizing one another. Ladybugs
don't eat fruit or vegetation of any kind ... and that's a good thing.

EV

" wrote:

EV in :

Their children and grandchildren have been controlling the aphids, not
just on the fruit trees and the roses, but in most of the garden as
well.

yes, keep them hungry and they'll eat anything.
but keep them away from those cherries when close to rpiening, or they'll
leave you none.

:-)

Lady beetles are carnivorous. They prefer soft bodied insects such as
aphids, but will also eat other bugs, including their own kind. I've
documented them in the larval stage cannibalizing one another. Ladybugs
don't eat fruit or vegetation of any kind ... and that's a good thing.

EV

In article , EV wrote:

escapee wrote:


You are also incorrect about "profit motive" since many organic farms
are very
small, and sell their produce at farmers markets, not on grocery shelves. I
have news, the grocery stores hike up the prices, not the growers. For
instance, bananas. If you see the word organic on a banana, it's
generally a
useless term. Bananas normally never need pesticides to produce.

I don't know where you got your information, but it's not correct, I'm
afraid. Emile
Frison is one of the world's leading banana researchers, and according
to Dr. Frison:

www.futureharvest.org/pdf/banana.pdf
[]
Bananas are threatened by the rapidly spreading fungus Black Sigatoka
that has been
undermining banana production for the past three decades. It has reached
almost every
banana-growing region in the world and typically reduces yield by 30 to
50 percent.
Other
diseases and pests that cripple yields include a soil fungus, parasitic
worms, weevils,
and
viruses such as the Banana Streak Virus, which lurks inside the banana
genome itself.
Commercial growers can afford and rely extensively on chemical
fungicides, often
spraying their crops 50 times per year—the equivalent of spraying nearly
once per week,
which is about 10 times the average for intensive agriculture in
industrialized
countries. Chemical inputs account for 27 percent of the production cost
of export
bananas. Agricultural chemicals used on bananas for diseases and pests
have harmed the
health of plantation workers and the environment.
“If we can devise resistant banana varieties, we could possibly do away
with fungicides
and pesticides all together,” said Frison. “In addition, resistant
strains are essential
for small-holder farmers, who cannot afford the expensive chemicals to
begin with. When
Black Sigatoka strikes, farmers can do little more than watch their
plants die.
Increased hunger can swiftly follow.”
[]
www.futureharvest.org/pdf/banana.pdf

EV

I've additionally heard the domestic banana really is endangered because
its own genetic material has narrowed to a couple strains developed for
large size & toughness in shipping & physical apeparance (not so much for
flavor) while wild bananas have vanished with loss of habitat. Some worry
that eventually corn will will follow for the same reasons. Without
careful preservation of a series of wild forms, the selectively bred &
genetically altered crops eventually meet a disease that takes them down.
Without the original seed stocks which can restore genetic strength,
that's the end of a staple crop. At best there'll be massive if temporary
crop die-offs equivalent of the Great Potato Famine.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

In article , EV wrote:

escapee wrote:


You are also incorrect about "profit motive" since many organic farms
are very
small, and sell their produce at farmers markets, not on grocery shelves. I
have news, the grocery stores hike up the prices, not the growers. For
instance, bananas. If you see the word organic on a banana, it's
generally a
useless term. Bananas normally never need pesticides to produce.

I don't know where you got your information, but it's not correct, I'm
afraid. Emile
Frison is one of the world's leading banana researchers, and according
to Dr. Frison:

www.futureharvest.org/pdf/banana.pdf
[]
Bananas are threatened by the rapidly spreading fungus Black Sigatoka
that has been
undermining banana production for the past three decades. It has reached
almost every
banana-growing region in the world and typically reduces yield by 30 to
50 percent.
Other
diseases and pests that cripple yields include a soil fungus, parasitic
worms, weevils,
and
viruses such as the Banana Streak Virus, which lurks inside the banana
genome itself.
Commercial growers can afford and rely extensively on chemical
fungicides, often
spraying their crops 50 times per year—the equivalent of spraying nearly
once per week,
which is about 10 times the average for intensive agriculture in
industrialized
countries. Chemical inputs account for 27 percent of the production cost
of export
bananas. Agricultural chemicals used on bananas for diseases and pests
have harmed the
health of plantation workers and the environment.
“If we can devise resistant banana varieties, we could possibly do away
with fungicides
and pesticides all together,” said Frison. “In addition, resistant
strains are essential
for small-holder farmers, who cannot afford the expensive chemicals to
begin with. When
Black Sigatoka strikes, farmers can do little more than watch their
plants die.
Increased hunger can swiftly follow.”
[]
www.futureharvest.org/pdf/banana.pdf

EV

I've additionally heard the domestic banana really is endangered because
its own genetic material has narrowed to a couple strains developed for
large size & toughness in shipping & physical apeparance (not so much for
flavor) while wild bananas have vanished with loss of habitat. Some worry
that eventually corn will will follow for the same reasons. Without
careful preservation of a series of wild forms, the selectively bred &
genetically altered crops eventually meet a disease that takes them down.
Without the original seed stocks which can restore genetic strength,
that's the end of a staple crop. At best there'll be massive if temporary
crop die-offs equivalent of the Great Potato Famine.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

EV wrote:
" wrote:


EV in :


Their children and grandchildren have been controlling the aphids, not
just on the fruit trees and the roses, but in most of the garden as
well.

yes, keep them hungry and they'll eat anything.
but keep them away from those cherries when close to rpiening, or they'll
leave you none.

:-)


Lady beetles are carnivorous. They prefer soft bodied insects such as
aphids, but will also eat other bugs, including their own kind. I've
documented them in the larval stage cannibalizing one another. Ladybugs
don't eat fruit or vegetation of any kind ... and that's a good thing.

EV



You're describing the old European lady beetles we all know and love.
The imported Asian lady beetles certainly eat fruit. I've seen them by
the hundreds in my apples; I don't think they will attack a perfect
apple, but once yellow jackets or birds or something make a little hole
in the apple, the ladybugs go after it. They enlarge the hole, which
then attracts more ladybugs.

They are a big problem for grape growers because when they get inside
the grapes, they stink up the juice when the grapes are crushed and they
can easily ruin the wine. At least with a ladybug infested apple, you
can see them.

BTW, they also bite people.

Bob

EV wrote:
" wrote:


EV in :


Their children and grandchildren have been controlling the aphids, not
just on the fruit trees and the roses, but in most of the garden as
well.

yes, keep them hungry and they'll eat anything.
but keep them away from those cherries when close to rpiening, or they'll
leave you none.

:-)


Lady beetles are carnivorous. They prefer soft bodied insects such as
aphids, but will also eat other bugs, including their own kind. I've
documented them in the larval stage cannibalizing one another. Ladybugs
don't eat fruit or vegetation of any kind ... and that's a good thing.

EV



You're describing the old European lady beetles we all know and love.
The imported Asian lady beetles certainly eat fruit. I've seen them by
the hundreds in my apples; I don't think they will attack a perfect
apple, but once yellow jackets or birds or something make a little hole
in the apple, the ladybugs go after it. They enlarge the hole, which
then attracts more ladybugs.

They are a big problem for grape growers because when they get inside
the grapes, they stink up the juice when the grapes are crushed and they
can easily ruin the wine. At least with a ladybug infested apple, you
can see them.

BTW, they also bite people.

Bob

zxcvbob wrote:

EV wrote:
" wrote:


EV in :


Their children and grandchildren have been controlling the aphids, not
just on the fruit trees and the roses, but in most of the garden as
well.

yes, keep them hungry and they'll eat anything.
but keep them away from those cherries when close to rpiening, or they'll
leave you none.

:-)


Lady beetles are carnivorous. They prefer soft bodied insects such as
aphids, but will also eat other bugs, including their own kind. I've
documented them in the larval stage cannibalizing one another. Ladybugs
don't eat fruit or vegetation of any kind ... and that's a good thing.

EV



You're describing the old European lady beetles we all know and love.
The imported Asian lady beetles certainly eat fruit. I've seen them by
the hundreds in my apples; I don't think they will attack a perfect
apple, but once yellow jackets or birds or something make a little hole
in the apple, the ladybugs go after it. They enlarge the hole, which
then attracts more ladybugs.

Interesting. I hadn't heard of this. But I did find some puzzling evidence on
my plums. The first time I saw them years ago, I thought they were ladybugs
that had somehow died just before becoming fully formed adults. I thought they
were must resting on the fruit to morph and had died. Then, when everyone
brought up plum curculios as a big probelm on plums, I checked some sites to
see what they looked like, and though my bugs don't look like the adult PC, I
thought they might be a pre-adult stage not shown. Now I'm wondering again.

They are a big problem for grape growers because when they get inside
the grapes, they stink up the juice when the grapes are crushed and they
can easily ruin the wine. At least with a ladybug infested apple, you
can see them.

The stupid thing is that the asian ladybugs were imported as beneficials in
vast numbers. Now, thanks to them, native ladybugs have been extirpated almost
everywhere the asian has been introduced.

Good intention, very bad idea. I get the chills whenever I hear about another
insect they want to release to combat some alien that was accidentally imported
and has no natural enemies. Importing alien bugs to battle alien bugs or plants
is a dumb idea at best.

New studies show that the main advantage that alien imports (insects, mollusks
and plants) have is that their usual parasites don't exist here. Whereas they
may be preyed upon by a dozen parasites on their home turf, here there are just
a few at most.


BTW, they also bite people.

This I know! :-D The first few times I transported ladybug larvae to the rose
buffet by hand, the little buggers bit me. I transported them in plastic cups
after that. They're now everywhere so I don't have to move them around. I
didn't introduce them here. They were very well established when I moved here.

EV

zxcvbob wrote:

EV wrote:
" wrote:


EV in :


Their children and grandchildren have been controlling the aphids, not
just on the fruit trees and the roses, but in most of the garden as
well.

yes, keep them hungry and they'll eat anything.
but keep them away from those cherries when close to rpiening, or they'll
leave you none.

:-)


Lady beetles are carnivorous. They prefer soft bodied insects such as
aphids, but will also eat other bugs, including their own kind. I've
documented them in the larval stage cannibalizing one another. Ladybugs
don't eat fruit or vegetation of any kind ... and that's a good thing.

EV



You're describing the old European lady beetles we all know and love.
The imported Asian lady beetles certainly eat fruit. I've seen them by
the hundreds in my apples; I don't think they will attack a perfect
apple, but once yellow jackets or birds or something make a little hole
in the apple, the ladybugs go after it. They enlarge the hole, which
then attracts more ladybugs.

Interesting. I hadn't heard of this. But I did find some puzzling evidence on
my plums. The first time I saw them years ago, I thought they were ladybugs
that had somehow died just before becoming fully formed adults. I thought they
were must resting on the fruit to morph and had died. Then, when everyone
brought up plum curculios as a big probelm on plums, I checked some sites to
see what they looked like, and though my bugs don't look like the adult PC, I
thought they might be a pre-adult stage not shown. Now I'm wondering again.

They are a big problem for grape growers because when they get inside
the grapes, they stink up the juice when the grapes are crushed and they
can easily ruin the wine. At least with a ladybug infested apple, you
can see them.

The stupid thing is that the asian ladybugs were imported as beneficials in
vast numbers. Now, thanks to them, native ladybugs have been extirpated almost
everywhere the asian has been introduced.

Good intention, very bad idea. I get the chills whenever I hear about another
insect they want to release to combat some alien that was accidentally imported
and has no natural enemies. Importing alien bugs to battle alien bugs or plants
is a dumb idea at best.

New studies show that the main advantage that alien imports (insects, mollusks
and plants) have is that their usual parasites don't exist here. Whereas they
may be preyed upon by a dozen parasites on their home turf, here there are just
a few at most.


BTW, they also bite people.

This I know! :-D The first few times I transported ladybug larvae to the rose
buffet by hand, the little buggers bit me. I transported them in plastic cups
after that. They're now everywhere so I don't have to move them around. I
didn't introduce them here. They were very well established when I moved here.

EV

paghat wrote:

In article , EV wrote:

escapee wrote:


You are also incorrect about "profit motive" since many organic farms
are very
small, and sell their produce at farmers markets, not on grocery shelves. I
have news, the grocery stores hike up the prices, not the growers. For
instance, bananas. If you see the word organic on a banana, it's
generally a
useless term. Bananas normally never need pesticides to produce.

I don't know where you got your information, but it's not correct, I'm
afraid. Emile
Frison is one of the world's leading banana researchers, and according
to Dr. Frison:

www.futureharvest.org/pdf/banana.pdf
[]
Bananas are threatened by the rapidly spreading fungus Black Sigatoka
that has been
undermining banana production for the past three decades. It has reached
almost every
banana-growing region in the world and typically reduces yield by 30 to
50 percent.
Other
diseases and pests that cripple yields include a soil fungus, parasitic
worms, weevils,
and
viruses such as the Banana Streak Virus, which lurks inside the banana
genome itself.
Commercial growers can afford and rely extensively on chemical
fungicides, often
spraying their crops 50 times per year—the equivalent of spraying nearly
once per week,
which is about 10 times the average for intensive agriculture in
industrialized
countries. Chemical inputs account for 27 percent of the production cost
of export
bananas. Agricultural chemicals used on bananas for diseases and pests
have harmed the
health of plantation workers and the environment.
“If we can devise resistant banana varieties, we could possibly do away
with fungicides
and pesticides all together,” said Frison. “In addition, resistant
strains are essential
for small-holder farmers, who cannot afford the expensive chemicals to
begin with. When
Black Sigatoka strikes, farmers can do little more than watch their
plants die.
Increased hunger can swiftly follow.”
[]
www.futureharvest.org/pdf/banana.pdf

EV

I've additionally heard the domestic banana really is endangered because
its own genetic material has narrowed to a couple strains developed for
large size & toughness in shipping & physical apeparance (not so much for
flavor) while wild bananas have vanished with loss of habitat. Some worry
that eventually corn will will follow for the same reasons. Without
careful preservation of a series of wild forms, the selectively bred &
genetically altered crops eventually meet a disease that takes them down.
Without the original seed stocks which can restore genetic strength,
that's the end of a staple crop. At best there'll be massive if temporary
crop die-offs equivalent of the Great Potato Famine.

-paghat the ratgirl


Yes, that's correct. There was an excellent article on it in New Scientist in the
fall of 2002 IIRC.

EV


--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

paghat wrote:

In article , EV wrote:

escapee wrote:


You are also incorrect about "profit motive" since many organic farms
are very
small, and sell their produce at farmers markets, not on grocery shelves. I
have news, the grocery stores hike up the prices, not the growers. For
instance, bananas. If you see the word organic on a banana, it's
generally a
useless term. Bananas normally never need pesticides to produce.

I don't know where you got your information, but it's not correct, I'm
afraid. Emile
Frison is one of the world's leading banana researchers, and according
to Dr. Frison:

www.futureharvest.org/pdf/banana.pdf
[]
Bananas are threatened by the rapidly spreading fungus Black Sigatoka
that has been
undermining banana production for the past three decades. It has reached
almost every
banana-growing region in the world and typically reduces yield by 30 to
50 percent.
Other
diseases and pests that cripple yields include a soil fungus, parasitic
worms, weevils,
and
viruses such as the Banana Streak Virus, which lurks inside the banana
genome itself.
Commercial growers can afford and rely extensively on chemical
fungicides, often
spraying their crops 50 times per year—the equivalent of spraying nearly
once per week,
which is about 10 times the average for intensive agriculture in
industrialized
countries. Chemical inputs account for 27 percent of the production cost
of export
bananas. Agricultural chemicals used on bananas for diseases and pests
have harmed the
health of plantation workers and the environment.
“If we can devise resistant banana varieties, we could possibly do away
with fungicides
and pesticides all together,” said Frison. “In addition, resistant
strains are essential
for small-holder farmers, who cannot afford the expensive chemicals to
begin with. When
Black Sigatoka strikes, farmers can do little more than watch their
plants die.
Increased hunger can swiftly follow.”
[]
www.futureharvest.org/pdf/banana.pdf

EV

I've additionally heard the domestic banana really is endangered because
its own genetic material has narrowed to a couple strains developed for
large size & toughness in shipping & physical apeparance (not so much for
flavor) while wild bananas have vanished with loss of habitat. Some worry
that eventually corn will will follow for the same reasons. Without
careful preservation of a series of wild forms, the selectively bred &
genetically altered crops eventually meet a disease that takes them down.
Without the original seed stocks which can restore genetic strength,
that's the end of a staple crop. At best there'll be massive if temporary
crop die-offs equivalent of the Great Potato Famine.

-paghat the ratgirl


Yes, that's correct. There was an excellent article on it in New Scientist in the
fall of 2002 IIRC.

EV


--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

paghat wrote:

In article , EV wrote:

escapee wrote:


You are also incorrect about "profit motive" since many organic farms
are very
small, and sell their produce at farmers markets, not on grocery shelves. I
have news, the grocery stores hike up the prices, not the growers. For
instance, bananas. If you see the word organic on a banana, it's
generally a
useless term. Bananas normally never need pesticides to produce.

I don't know where you got your information, but it's not correct, I'm
afraid. Emile
Frison is one of the world's leading banana researchers, and according
to Dr. Frison:

www.futureharvest.org/pdf/banana.pdf
[]
Bananas are threatened by the rapidly spreading fungus Black Sigatoka
that has been
undermining banana production for the past three decades. It has reached
almost every
banana-growing region in the world and typically reduces yield by 30 to
50 percent.
Other
diseases and pests that cripple yields include a soil fungus, parasitic
worms, weevils,
and
viruses such as the Banana Streak Virus, which lurks inside the banana
genome itself.
Commercial growers can afford and rely extensively on chemical
fungicides, often
spraying their crops 50 times per year—the equivalent of spraying nearly
once per week,
which is about 10 times the average for intensive agriculture in
industrialized
countries. Chemical inputs account for 27 percent of the production cost
of export
bananas. Agricultural chemicals used on bananas for diseases and pests
have harmed the
health of plantation workers and the environment.
“If we can devise resistant banana varieties, we could possibly do away
with fungicides
and pesticides all together,” said Frison. “In addition, resistant
strains are essential
for small-holder farmers, who cannot afford the expensive chemicals to
begin with. When
Black Sigatoka strikes, farmers can do little more than watch their
plants die.
Increased hunger can swiftly follow.”
[]
www.futureharvest.org/pdf/banana.pdf

EV

I've additionally heard the domestic banana really is endangered because
its own genetic material has narrowed to a couple strains developed for
large size & toughness in shipping & physical apeparance (not so much for
flavor) while wild bananas have vanished with loss of habitat. Some worry
that eventually corn will will follow for the same reasons. Without
careful preservation of a series of wild forms, the selectively bred &
genetically altered crops eventually meet a disease that takes them down.
Without the original seed stocks which can restore genetic strength,
that's the end of a staple crop. At best there'll be massive if temporary
crop die-offs equivalent of the Great Potato Famine.

-paghat the ratgirl


Yes, that's correct. There was an excellent article on it in New Scientist in the
fall of 2002 IIRC.

EV


--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 19:30:15 -0400, EV wrote:

Lady beetles are carnivorous. They prefer soft bodied insects such as
aphids, but will also eat other bugs, including their own kind. I've
documented them in the larval stage cannibalizing one another. Ladybugs
don't eat fruit or vegetation of any kind ... and that's a good thing.


Most are carnivorous. Mexican bean ladybug, aka Mexican bean beetle
and the squash ladybug are plant feeders. ...I believe the reason the
larvae cannibalize each other is to get a protein that triggers the
the stoppage of the the juvenile hormone that now allows them to
pupate and become an adult.


Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!


It is said that the early bird gets the worm,
but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.